


Change Of Ways

by Digitaltoxicity



Category: Original Work
Genre: Competition, Dancer, Dancing, Equestrian, Ireland, M/M, New York, Teen Crush, Teen Romance, Teenagers, equine, horse, show jumping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-10 01:44:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20127316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Digitaltoxicity/pseuds/Digitaltoxicity
Summary: And the tea has been spilled. I’m a big fan of slow burners so I know a kiss on the second chapter is like ?¿ but whO KNOWS WHAT THE REACTIONS WILL BE ;)





	1. Chapter 1

The vibrations and loud growl of the red quad beneath me shot throughout my body viciously as it tore over each stone and grass verge.  
If it wasn't the jet lag it could be the tedious waking up at 5am and dragging a horse to the beach to clean its wounds that is making me so tired and nauseous.

Moving from New York to Ireland was a big change, not just because New York is quite literally the big city with constant noise and smells of desperate people wanting to make it big and Donegal is a secluded place with each person passing by with a wave and smile but the change that hit me most was the work. 

Everything came naturally to me as a child, I sang on small broadway shows and danced in every under 16's competition there was to dance in. I went from clearing my attic out to fit all of my trophies to gripping onto a stranger driving a quad over rough terrain to feed one of their 21 horses during my "good summer job".

The engine shuttered into silence as we came to a halt but before the silence could last, thundering hooves stormed down the banks towards us. One horse, then two until there was six. I had only been at the job for a week and I already knew the majority of the horses names which I have to admit I was proud of.

Having visited my dads family in Connecticut frequently I was no stranger to horse riding and such, in fact my 1st place rodeo ribbon from when I was only 9 years old stands to prove I was good! I haven't rode horses in years and even when I did, it was mostly barrel racing on a Shetland pony and trail rides with an old Morgan but I suppose showjumping doesn't seem that hard so maybe I can try that if the dancing here doesn't please me.

My train of thought was lost when.. "ARIS!! Would you watch your step and feed the foal." Catherine shouted to me.

I picked up the bucket of pony nuts from the front of the quad and brought it to the three horses standing in a seemingly perfect row. The white, or 'cremello' should I say, mare stood tall as I approached with her food. This was Nohey and she was the mother of the foal I'm feeding. The filly's name is Bobbi and considering she is so darkly coloured I refuse to believe she is really Nohey's baby. The next horse beside them is sideways, yes sideways. Sideways got her name changed from Penny at 1 Year Old when she had an accident in the field and broke a bone in her leg. Usually an accident like hers would result in putting her down but luckily due to the location of the break vet was able to mostly fix her and with a lot of nursing she is a cheeky bitch to this day at 17 years old! She got called sideways when we noticed her crab like walk came as a result of the break.

My parents told me we were moving to get a quieter life but in reality it was because they thought if I auditioned to sing in Hamilton I would forget about my school education.

So here I am, my oversized green waterproofs covered in horse shit and hair. A bit different to my usual designer outfits and strolling the paths of central park with my friends. 

-_-_-_-

I shut the curtains of my small room and flicked on the light to reveal the unmade bed with bright pink sheets. I was living on the farm in Donegal for easier access to work since my parents house was barely under an hours drive and it was pretty obvious they assumed they'd be getting a female worker. 

"Aris?" My name was called from a distance, the kitchen maybe. 

"Yes?" I called back as I quickly made my way into the kitchen. The house was always so crowded. It had 6 bedrooms but was barely the size of an 3 bedroom average house and usually the entire family came round to sit at some stage in the day.

"I'd like you to meet Dylan, he's going to be working with us. He's had a lot of experience training horses so he will deal with that side of things and I want you to watch and learn from him!" I stared at the boy, he was a bit smaller than me but looked like he could be older - maybe 18. He had light brown wavy hair and wore black jodhpurs accompanied by an obviously old "The Beatles" shirt.

"Nice to meet you." The handshake should have been awkward, which it probably was, but he seemed overwhelmingly nice with his warm smile and manner. 

After some small talk and everyone finishing dinner me and Dylan decided to walk to the stables and feed the horses together. Usually the horses stay in the field but one was injured recently and has to stay inside for a while.

"So what else do you do, you know, besides riding?" Dylan asked as he hopped through the gap in the fence.

"I don't actually ride, eh well I haven't in a few years anyway. I'm a dancer mostly but I used to sing a lot too, until I moved here anyway. What about you? Do you do anything else." Usually I'm pretty confident talking about my dancing, after all it's not like I'm bad at it and I'm just saying I dance. I know I'm good at it but despite him being overly nice there's something about him that makes me feel sort of sheepish.

"Oh! You don't really ride? Why'd you take the job?" He enquired and without missing a beat moved on, "that's actually really cool that you were a dancer! Did you compete? And to finally answer your question, I don't do a whole lot else apart from riding but I do play drums."

Not the response I was expecting to dancing but I'll take it! "I rode on my uncles cattle ranch when I was younger but nothing else really apart from low level rodeos on a Shetland." We both laughed a little as we approached the stable door of the coloured pony. "My parents thought the job would be good to clear my head and get a break from performance and well yes dancing competitions.. anyway, drums, that's cool?"

Dylan nodded as a response, now who's the shy one. Personally I don't understand why people get so off talking about their talents and hobbies, if it's fun then it's fun and what everyone else thinks shouldn't matter.

"Hello boy," Dylan walked towards the cob. "What's his name?"

"Oreo. He was kicked by one of Tara's other horses a few days ago so he's pretty badly injured. He used to be a really good show jumper apparently but the vet said he may never jump again."

"Show jumper? I never would've guessed" he laughed as he stared at the scruffy and obviously overweight pony.

"Don't let Tara hear you say that, she told me he’s her 'heart horse' whatever that is. She showed me all these pictures of him clean and jumping and I swear it's a different pony"

We laughed and talked on about his competition life and his horse that'll be arriving tomorrow. It sounds like an overly fancy horse, whatever a Dutch warmblood is, it sounds expensive.

At least I think I’ve made a friend.


	2. Chapter two

"WOOOO!!!" The loud screech split through the air before a splash was heard.

Pier jumping. It has never interested me and I doubt it ever will. I have been here for two weeks and I’ve only came to attempt it now.

"Dammit Aris just jump in, it's not that cold and it's not like sharks are going to attack you." It's not cold. Easy for him to say, he comes from this torturously freezing place! I'm used to 35°C and sunshine not barely 15°C and constant rain. 

"Come here we can jump in together," Dylan chuckled as he pulled back the wet strands of hair out of his eyes. 

I nodded sheepishly and walked towards the edge, I was expecting a countdown but what I got was Dylan intertwining his fingers with mine and standing at my side. I felt my cheeks heat up like a blazing fire, I don't think a boy has ever held my hand before. 

"1, 2, 3!" Both our feet leave the ground and we fall. We're going in slow motion, everything is calm as the water travels up my entire body and covers my face. I feel Dylan's hand abandon mine as we both kick our way to the surface of the dark sea. 

"Okay it wasn't that bad," I laugh it off as I flick back my hair and cough out the small amount of water that managed to attack my throat. The water is cool but it’s heated within 5 seconds of penetrating the wetsuit.

It feels like 5 minutes ago I had done my first jump but when I look at the clock I realized it has almost been 2 hours of flinging ourselves in and out of the water. "So you've warmed up to our pier jumping, dancing boy?"  
Dancing boy. "Is that your poor attempt of nicknaming me, drummer boy." It's easy to mock him, I know he won't get offended and even if he did he's way too nice to fight with, I feel like I’d end up apologising within the second. 

He shakes his head laughing as we dry our hair quickly and get into his car. My hair easily rests on my head however his seems to have other plans. His natural waves turned into a curly mop living on his face, I have to admit, he suited his hair curly. 

"Is that you and your girlfriend?" I close my passenger side door as I pick up a picture that was lying in the cup holders of his car. I get a small chuckle in response.

"Considering she's my sister and I'm very gay, I would hope not." Oh. Fuck was I supposed to know he's gay? I laughed to break the small silence and turned up the volume of the stereo. "Nirvana! Nice." 

Apparently I didn't offended him as our conversation about bands we liked continued the entire way home. "So what about you? Do you have a girlfriend or did you in New York?"

It took me a moment before I answered the question, it didn't feel right talking about girls right now. I haven't dated anyone in a while, no one was interesting enough to catch my eye. "Not really, I mean I had a few flings last summer and a one night stand every so often but no one particularly interesting."

"So you want someone to be interesting eh?" The glimmer in his eye settled as our eyes locked on to each others with a smile.  
"Well interesting enough to have pier jumping as a summer hobby." With a shrug and a wink I turned and left the car, heading for the house and then to the kitchen. Why I said that or winked? We may never know.

Time seemed to pass slower than usual, each tick of the clock felt like a century until someone arrived in the kitchen but I was too lazy and not to mention embarrassed to pull my head from the table to check who was here. "Tara gave me the heads up we have the day off unless we feel like going for a ride so.. if you're up for it?" The hopefulness in Dylan's voice was too strong to possibly say no to, even after I merely embarrassed myself.

"But who will I ride? Thats y'know.. safe."  
"What about Aeva?" He was taken back after her realised what he'd said, while Aeva was a sturdy pony and could carry me it probably wasn't best for me standing at 5'8 to be on a small and young pony. "I'll tell you what, you ride Vanity and I'll ride Finn! Once Finn is calm enough for you to ride you can take him anytime, he's big enough."

Vanity had arrived off the trailer last week and he really was stunning. His deep black coat with only a thin stripe of white running down from his eyes to his nose made him shadow like. He walked with such power and beauty, certainly more than the horses that lived here. The ponies here were nice but they were just that, nice ponies, they weren't anything like Vanity. It was obvious V was bred to rise to the top and so he will. 

"You don't mind me riding him?" What I really wanted to ask was 'will he kill me if I move wrong' but that's probably not appropriate considering most people who actually ride would jump at the chance to ride a high level competition horse. 

"No not at all! After all, I want to get to know you and you can get to know me by learning about my best friend." Him and V really did seem like best friends, as if they could talk to each other and communicate with small glances and movements. Teammates at their finest.

So it was settled, I was about to get killed all because I want to get to know my housemate. I mean I never found horses frightening but then again I’ve never rode or even seen a horse the size of Vanity. 

-_-_-_-

I wasn’t the most experienced when it came to tacking up horses, especially not horses with so much extra equipment. I mean really, why do horses have to wear ‘boots’ around their legs? So Dylan tacked up both Vanity for me and Finn for him. 

“Okay just nice and easy, tighten your reins and lightly squeeze your leg on his side.” Dylan’s voice came soft, calm and content that I was learning and god it was so easy to follow his instructions.

As I done what he said I felt Vanity’s head lower slightly, ears perked forward and moving off each hoof with a thunderous lift. It felt like sitting on a moving cloud that was mid-thunderstorm. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” Dylan winked. After a light warmup in the arena I followed him out of the black gate and down the narrow road of cobble into the nearest field. “Ready?”

“For?” Before I knew it finn was charging off up the field and Vanity wanted to stay close. He pushed off the ground from his back legs and catapulted us forward leaving me clinging on to his mane and trying desperately to push myself back into the saddle. When I finally got back my grip the feeling was immense, like the world had turned upside down and everything was bliss. The wind caught my eyes leaving them tearful but nothing could ruin the moment as Vanity sailed passed Finn, overtaking him as though it was a race we were desperate to win. 

Stopping felt like it came all too soon as we reached the top of the hill. The horse’s nostrils were flared and pink, snorting with each breath, I didn’t feel far off it either. Both Dylan and I panted, letting the horse’s heads loose to eat grass and we attempted to regain our breath. 

“You look happy,” Dylan grinned at me with the biggest smile possible. Like I said, absolute Bliss. “I could do this all day everyday.” I responded quickly.

“Yeah well don’t get used to it, Vanity is mine!” He teased, and then I remembered, I don’t actually have a horse. After summer this will be a distance memory, I will be living an hour away from here and I’ll probably never ride again. Dancing training will resume, I will probably get cast in some low-scale musical and have to decide a career path within a few months. 

“Hey, come here.” Dylan seemed to notice the smile leaving my face and dismounted Finn waiting for me to do the same. When I did so he took both horses and tied them, one to a ring on a gait and the other to the nearest tree. He put his arm around my shoulders and walked me forward. “What’s up? You know I was just kidding you can ride Vanity anytime.”

I nodded, staying hopeful was easy when you had his comforting smile around you at all times but then again, that too would be gone in just a matter of months. “I know, I just remembered how I won’t ride again after summer. I probably won’t even see a horse apart from on TV.”

“Hey shut up, who has it worse? I won’t get to see you.” He joked and pushed me to the side. I’ve never really had many friends, not that felt close to me, I had a lot of ‘friends’ in New York but none like this. I had only known Dylan two weeks and I already felt more comfortable around him than I ever did with friends I’d known over two years in New York. “I’ll just make it big with Vanity and hire you as my groom.”

“Please do, I don’t want to get stuck in a small town forever. Let me travel Europe with you and your horse.” I laughed, a fantasy that I would hold onto until I leave. 

“Wow man that was pretty gay.” We both burst out in laughter and made our way back to the horses. “You know, wether you’re an hour away or across the sea I’ll always be here. You text and I’m there, even if it’s not physically. And if I ever make it big enough to travel the European circuit, I want you to be alongside me competing with your own horse.” 

Silence fell among us, only the subtle sound of the horses breathing. For a moment I thought he was going to kiss me, and I think we both knew it. Everything just seemed so perfect. I began to turn away and I felt his fingers touch my cheek and bring my head back towards him before a kiss was placed on my lips. While I was expecting it a few seconds ago it still felt like a surprise, taking a few seconds to register before I kissed back and allowed his cherry tasting lips to fall back from my face. Wow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the tea has been spilled. I’m a big fan of slow burners so I know a kiss on the second chapter is like ?¿ but whO KNOWS WHAT THE REACTIONS WILL BE ;)


	3. Chapter Three

After yesterday's events we found ourselves quickly getting on the horses and riding home... in silence. We tried to make small talk but it got awkward pretty quickly and even today he's been avoiding me. That's a lie, I've been avoiding him. 

"Aris can you go help Dylan down at the stables? He just found out there's a Dublin Horse Show qualifier next month so he needs help practicing." Tara's voice came stern, all she can probably think about is how good this will look for her brand. I can see the titles now 'Lackaghmore Sport Ponies has RDS qualifier breaking horses for them.'

"Sure." I slowly zip up my navy coat and leave the house, walking down the grass hill towards the arena felt like a death sentence that I just wasn't ready for.

"Hey Aris! Did you hear about Dublin?" His words sprung through the air, dripping with enthusiasm and a smile beaming. Maybe I was imagining the awkwardness, he doesn't seem to care.

"Uh, yeah, dude that's awesome." I tried to sound positive but I could tell when he slowed his horse down from a canter to a walk and let the smile leave his face that I was still taken back by yesterday.

"Listen, if me kissing you is what you're being so uptight about I'm sorry but it was just a kiss. I get it, your not gay, it was just an impulsive decision." He shrugged and rode the horse forward once again, letting it tuck its head low and move through its back muscles. I wasn't quite sure what to respond so I didn't, my response was simply setting up jumps for him.

By the end of the session we had exchanged a few words, mostly 'aw nice jump!' And 'danm he really doesn't have a problem with that height' but it was better than nothing. I praised the panting horse with a pat, feeling his sticky warm coat as I did so.

"Want to give it a try?" Dylan smirked down at me as he leapt from the tall horse, bending his knees on landing. He turned to me and placed his grey John Whitaker helmet on my head, buckling the strap at the side. "Have fun"

I stood on the red mounting block and took a deep breath and as I sat up onto the saddle. Dylan lowered one of the jumps from the top of the wings to almost the floor, it was kind of embarrassing but considering I'm probably about to fall off I should be thinking more about that embarrassment. I squeezed my leg on his side to ask for a canter and was slightly deseated as he hopped forward into the powerful pace. 

"Just sit up and when he's going over the jump grab a piece of his mane half way up his neck so you don't pull his mouth."

Before I was anywhere near the jump I already had my hand on his mane with loose reins. We were just a few strides out and that's when I began to panic, out of instinct I gave Vanity ever so slightly too big of a kick and he leapt into the air over the jump, soaring higher than he had previously jumped with Dylan and then landing with a large kick to the side. I grasped onto the horses mane and tightened my grip on his legs and I desperately tried to keep myself onto him as he cantered laps of the arena.

"Woah Vanity, it's okay. Okay just try and push yourself back into the saddle and loosen your grip with your legs Aris." I barely heard anything he said, I was too busy being filled with fear. I managed to push myself back into the saddle and just as my feet were trying to find my stirrups Vanity planted his feet in the ground to a halt and swung himself the opposite direction and I found myself falling, headfirst, towards the sand.

Black.

I woke up to a blinding light hovering over my eyes. "He's regaining consciousness." An unfamiliar voice spoke out.

I looked to my left where Dylan was sat on a chair practically touching the bed I was on with his hands leaving over the plastic near me. "You're pretty with your hair all curly you know." I giggled like a schoolgirl. It was clear I was pretty delirious considering I said that out loud. 

Dylan laughed and ruffled my hair like a child, then keeping his hand placed on my head. "Next time when I say sit up, do it quicker." He winked before pulling his hand through his own hair. 

The doctor cleared his throat to direct our attention to him as he spoke out, "You have a mild concussion but your helmet protected you. I'm glad you were smart enough to wear one." We watched as he began to walk away and speak to some nurses, presumably about me.

"I want a Chinese." I mumbled before turning onto my side, still laying down, to face Dylan.  
"Oh shut up you baby, I need a chinese after the stress I just went through."

"Yeah I don't think I'll be competing at Dublin alongside you anytime soon." I felt my eyes shutting as I nuzzled my head into Dylan's hands and yawned. 

"No, nope! You can't sleep for a bit, we have to keep you awake. If you stay awake you get to leave the hospital and come get a chinese with me and then you get the day off to sleep.

Dylan's POV

After an hour had passed and the doctor had released Aris from their care I helped him up from the bed and walked him to the car, arm around his waist as he dizzily obeyed and came with me. He was a little out of it with both the concussion and the pain killers but I happened to be fine with his 'Symptoms' of calling me pretty and that I 'have Frodo's hair' more then once. 

I placed him into the car and drove us both home where Tara stood paying for a chinese that I had ordered Aris and I. "Hey, I can pay for it!" 

"Don't worry, it's on me now you two take the day off and chill out. Keep and eye on him for me Dylan." I nodded in response and grabbed our food, leading Aris to my bedroom. We both sat up onto the king sized bed with black and grey sheets, placing our chinese out in front of us. 

I switched on the TV, selecting Netflix and scrolling through things to watch. "Any ideas?"

"Put on glee!" Aris excitedly said as he took a piece of honey chili chicken and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Glee? And you say your straight. Right." 

I selected Glee and relaxed myself into the pillows beside Aris who had seen every single episode and was able to tell me who was a bitch and who was, in fact, baby. 

We sat for hours in the same position until around episode 5 when I felt his head fall onto my shoulder and slowly move down to my chest. He was out cold sleeping. I wanted to settle my arm around his shoulders as a natural reaction but I sat, turning off the yellow hued light to let darkness cover the both of us with only the low light of Glee on the tv glowing. I sat through two more episodes before concluding that Kurt was in fact my favourite character before letting my eyelids slowly shut and drift off to sleep.

-_-_-_-

"Come on Dylan!" Aris loudly cheered as I cleared the last green and white fence in our homemade jumping course. "You done so well, you're going to ace Dublin qualifiers."

As I dismounted and began walking onto the path taking us away from the arena I gave Aris a quick peck on the cheek and put my arm around him, having to pull away all too soon as Vanity started to snort. "Easy V, what's wrong."

Vanity backed away from me, stamping his hooves wildly as he jumped on to the path. Seemingly out of nowhere a screeching horn split through the air, Vanity was no longer on the ground but on the car. Blood, glass, crying.

I woke up quickly, I grabbed at my shirt as if I could slowdown my heart that pounded against my chest. It was just a dream, just a dream. When I began to calm down and slowed my breathing I looked at my side where I had a cuddled in Aris with his arm over my stomach and leg over mine. Some how my right arm had managed to twist its way around him in our slumber too, how hetero of us.

I stirred uncomfortably in attempt to free my now dead arm but in more of a desperate act to not wake up what looked like a sleeping puppy. While I was 18 and he was almost 17, I usually got mistaken for a child and him as an older brother, he still was undeniably cute and puppy like as he pouted in his sleep. 

Aris began to become unsettled as he moved around slowly, still keeping his head on my shoulder but not finding a comfortable place to set his arms. His eyes began to flutter and I found myself wondering if I should pretend to sleep or act casual and so I decided on the rational human being thing to do, pretend to sleep and never speak of it again.

Aris slowly sat up, shifting the weight of the bed and removing the thick duvet from over his body. I decided to stop being a wet sock and opened my eyes given Aris hadn’t completely moved his weight from off of me. “Oh you’re awake, good uh, evening.” 

He stared off at the clock reading 6.38pm and sighed, the frown on his face settling in, “I’m never going to be able to sleep tonight now.” He seemed confused, furrowing his eyebrows and looking around him. “Is this your room? You were watching glee? Oh sorry I’m kind of crushing you.”

I laughed as he sat up off of me and crossed his long legs like a child. “Yes this is my room, don’t you remember we got chinese and you insisted on watching glee for 4 hours.”

The frown began to leave his face as he gave a light chuckle, “I’m sorry I don’t really remember. My memory is a bit fuzzy.” 

“Don’t worry the doctor said that it’s normal, you’ll be fine after a few hours to a day. Anyway I would die for Kurt.” He tapped my arm laughing in agreement before settling himself back into the bed, head back on my shoulder. “So tomorrow if you’re feeling better you’re riding Vanity again.”

“Nope, no more horses for me.” 

“Yes. You have to get back on him or you’ll get too afraid. You don’t have to jump him, we need to find something easier for you to jump and anyway you have to find a horse you can ride at Dublin.” I gave him a wink, as awesome as it would be for him to compete with or against me, something tells me he’s not going to like the idea of ever competing let alone at such a high level.

“Oreo was meant to be ridden today, Tara said she got the all clear to start riding last week so she’s only done walk and trot so far.” 

“Oreo. That’s it! You can learn to jump on him I mean he’s a show jumper right? I know he’s only a cob but I’m sure he could teach you until you get your balance up to maybe 80cm and then you can ride Vanity!” He started to shake his head in disagreement to which I met him with a frown. “Out of bed, we have a horse to brush.”

I probably shouldn’t encourage him to do anymore than laying in bed right now but I have an idea.


End file.
